Ok so maybe its not a cure, honestly im in the process of learning exactly what all the parts of the engine does. So Im not sure how or why this worked BUT....

I was having a bad tick. I thought it was because of my stripped bolt in my exhaust downpipe but it was getting worse and worse. My truck started sounding like a diesel. Cool but not really..

I was messing around under my hood today and decided to toss in a little MMO
[Marvel Mystery Oil] into the crankcase.[4oz] Not expecting anything, just bored and what the hell..

Then I noticed my truck was really quiet. I went over to the passenger side and the ticking was completely gone.. It was ticking while hot or cold and BAD, now its GONE.

Im heard it was a stuck lifter, which Im not quite sure what that is. Point being. I was about to remove my exhaust to removed the stripped screw, that wasnt even the problem.


THIS IS NOT IN MY HEAD. Tick was LOUD and is completely gone. When I first bought it I was only using it in my gas which seemed to really make it idle smoother [this is before I knew this was one of its claims]. The smoother idle may have been in my head but the tick was not..

I only bought the stuff out of boredom and because I saw a bottle of it in my brother in laws car and I heard my dad mention it one time.

Is this a temporary fix? I dont know.. But it certainly stopped me from removing my exhaust.

 

That sounds like it was a sticky lifter or valve and the MMO cleaned it up and freed it.
Our engines work basically like this...

The spark ignites the fuel which pushes the piston down which turns the crankshaft.
There is a gear on the end of the crank shaft with a chain on it, that chain turns another gear attached to the cam shaft (that is called a timing gear set)
The lifters sit ontop of the cam shaft, the cam pushes the lifters up and then they fall back down when the cam comes back down, the lifter pushes up on a rocker arm, when the rocker arm goes up it pushes a valves down (open), there are 2 valves per cylinder, one exhaust and one intake.
The fuel injector sits right above the intake valve, when the intake valve is open the injector squirts gas into the cylinder and the vacuum of the piston moving back down sucks in the fuel and air, the valve closes and the piston comes back up and at just the precise moment the spark plug sparks and the fuel air mixture explodes forcing the piston back down again. (power stroke)
When the piston comes back up the exhaust valve opens the the piston pushes the exhaust out.
The exhaust valve closes, intake valve opens...
It is a four stroke engine, that means each piston moves 4 times for each and every cycle.

1-intake stroke-down
2-compression stroke-up
3-power stroke-down
4-exhaust stroke-up

All engines work the same way, just some have 4 valves per cylinder and over head cams but the internal combustion engine has not changed much since it was invented over 100 years ago.

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/ERR1780.cfm

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/ERR5250.cfm

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/ERR5553.cfm

This is what connects the piston to the crank shaft.

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/602082.cfm

http://www.roversnorth.com/store/c-613-lower-end.aspx

 

Excellent explanation Spike. So you agree with adding MMO when the engine is making a little noise?

My DI will make some light ticking noises sporadically, I just an somewhat cautious about most additives.

 

thanks spike for going above and beyond

 

No, I am dead set against additives unless you have a problem.
Motor oil has all the additives you need.
He had a problem and this was basically a last ditch effort.

Here is some "light" reading for you...

http://www.carbibles.com/additives.html